The Fifth Wall

Before Melden’s first day at Primroses Kinder, the nursery called to speak to his Ma. They wanted to prepare a welcome pack for him, but didn’t know where to begin.

What do you mean, ‘don’t know where to begin’, Melden’s Ma had asked.
Well, said the nice young man on the chat holo, there’s not a whole lot of info to go on.
What sort of info, Melden’s Ma had wanted to know.
You know, Likes, the young man said, noting that little Melden had surely grown out of Piggywig merchandise by now. He’d paused then, sensing some confusion or awkwardness perhaps. Of course we want circadians, allergens, trait types, he continued… but we really do find Likes very useful.

Melden’s Ma reminded him that she’d filled in all these sorts of things on the enrolment profile… not to mention (she couldn’t resist adding) the fact that a four-year-old could hardly be counted upon to understand their own preferences? Which is why, in fact, the parent made most of their Likes for them? Right?

Haha, yes, the young man replied, smiling affably (you really couldn’t dislike him). Said he indeed had a summary of Melden’s enrolment file (pointed at something off-view) but there were very few Likes that had been made on Melden’s behalf? He’d said it like a question, and he’d looked at her as if perhaps she should somehow explain herself. Before Melden’s Ma could do anything of the sort he’d gone on to explain that they really just used enrolment profiles for confirmation bias anyway. What they mainly went by, he explained, was Soshio. Soshio for contextuals, and the municipal Register for actuals.

Well, said Melden’s Ma, running thin on patience: he is on Soshio and Register both.

Oh, the young man had said then, with the briefest furrowing of his brow. Whatever confusion registered was gone in an instant and he was beaming back at her again. His apology came and went even more swiftly, so that Melden’s Ma wasn’t sure if it had been there at all. It seemed to her then, that he changed topics… going into a protracted marketing pitch about how Primroses Kinder ‘worked diligently to make your little one feel nurtured’, and how they aimed ‘to create the best learning environment’; yadda yadda, yadda.

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Tiny Tells are fragments / snippets of writing that I have accumulated over time. I decided to put them up here, a sort of online workshop for re-visiting and re-working things until they seem a bit more story-like. I might even be editing a post right underneath you! It's all in flux, so please leave some tips and comments.